Cathy and Marco jetted to Maui to host a cheerful and retro Hawaiian-style celebration at a private estate. The bride fills us in on their inspiration from some unlikely places (the movie "Up"), their one-of-a-kind getaway car (a vintage VW bus) and her challenges finding the perfect wedding dress as a petite bride. Film shooter Wendy Laurel was on-hand to capture the fun! Enjoy their wedding film by Ohana Films at the end of the post. 

The Location
"We've been coming to Maui for several years and every now and then we imagined how great it'd be if our families could be here too.  When it came time to choose a location, we couldn't think of getting married anywhere else."

The Vision
"A lot of our guests would be visiting Maui for the first time so we wanted to show them why we kept coming back year after year.  I wanted our reception to feel like retro Hawaii.  It was only fitting to request that our guests come dressed in beach formal attire. Our wedding planner found a private estate to match our vision.  We arrived at the reception in a retro VW bus.  We used vibrant & native flowers and leaves.  The menu and our cake included fresh and local ingredients.  The property was lined with tiki torches and our event designer found an amazing tiki statue to put next to the bar.  We even surprised our guests a special hula and fire dance performance."

The Ceremony
"We decided to have the ceremony in a Catholic Church.  Only in Hawaii will you find a Catholic Church that has all the windows open to bring in fresh air, an abundant amount of natural light and to be able to walk down the aisle to Somewhere Over the Rainbow being performed on a ukulele."

"We incorporated a lot subtle details that have special meaning to us.  We love the movie Up so we asked our musician to play "Married Life" on his ukulele during our lei exchange at the ceremony.  Our specialty cocktails were named after movie characters and we wore little grape soda pins at the reception.  To show our love for music & dance, our Calligrapher created a "Rules of the Dance Floor" sign to post next to the DJ."

The Wedding Dress
"I thought it would be a challenge to find a dress to suit my petite & muscular frame.  My ideal dress was very specific I and wasn't sure if I would be able to find it. I came across BHLDN's fall collection and fell in love with their Seraphina dress. The lace reminded me of the flowers on the island & the dress itself was very light and free flowing.  Once I put it on I immediately knew it was the one.  I wore a pair of Badgley Mischka heels during the ceremony and changed into Chuck Taylor high top wedges during the reception."